Abduction
by Amaya Shinkuyoake
Summary: A pounding on his door late one night sends 18-year-old Snotlout on a mission he never expected to need to undertake. Rated for language and possible later content of a gory nature. These ARE vikings we're dealing with, after all!
1. Chapter 1

Abduction

Snotlout groaned and rubbed at his eyes tiredly as he rolled out of bed. The pounding clearly wasn't stopping, nor did it seem, as he slowly regained consciousness, to actually be either part of the dream he'd been having or a result of the rather inflated amount of ale he'd consumed before going to bed an hour ago. No, it would seem the pounding was at his door, and since he didn't hear the crackling sounds of flames or the clash of battle outside, someone must want something else. At three in the morning. On a Friday night (or should that be Saturday morning? Whichever).

Clearly what someone wanted was their head bashed in for being obnoxious. The banging _still_ hadn't stopped, and even though his door was solid oak, Snotlout was beginning to wonder if they weren't trying to chop it down to get in.

"Keep your helmet on, for Odin's sake," he called out, "I'm coming!"

He almost didn't recognize the young man on the other side of the door when he opened it, but then again, he wasn't exactly given a whole lot of time to work on that recognition, seeing as how the moment he opened the door he was pushed backward through the opening and pinned roughly against one of the main pillars of his home by the throat.

"Where is she?" his attacker growled.

"Where is who?" Snotlout blinked, confused, "I think you must be mistaken, I live alone here, there aren't any women in this house." He squinted, the flickering light from the hearth finally revealing that the man who had practically bashed his door in was none other than... "Tuff? What in Thor's name are you talking about?"

"If you don't tell me where she is right now," the clearly enraged viking grated, "I'm going to slice your belly open and pull your guts out an inch at a time until you do, friend or not! Now get talking!"

Now, at this point it might be helpful to point out that although not by any stretch of the imagination a genius, Snotlout was also not a complete and utter fool. There was really only one female Tuffnut ever got this worked up about, although not usually out of concern.

Snotlout took as deep a breath as he could manage and shook his head. "Tuff, she's not here, I swear by Freya she's not. I haven't seen Ruff since yesterday morning!"

He watched as Tuffnut's face fell and he seemed to slump, his hands releasing their prisoner and falling to his sides. "Nobody has," he said. "Last time anybody's seen her was yesterday morning, an' she was headed over here, so if she's not here..."

He got a strange queasy feeling in his stomach that had absolutely nothing to do with the ale he'd consumed. Two women had gone missing in the last two months, both of them unmarried young women, and now...was Ruffnut the third? But...but...this was _Ruffnut_ for Odin's sake! She was a terrifying Valkyrie of a woman (which was more than a little of why Snotlout loved to tease her, she was really, _really_ hot when she was angry) who was never without some form of defense.

"Are you sure?" he asked, "She's not just out there in the forest somewhere training for a few days or something?"

"Yes I'm sure, damnit 'Lout, you don't think I haven't already thought of that and checked?" Tuffnut glared at him. "Besides, she didn't take any of her weapons other than the knife she always carries. I checked that, too."

"Shit," Snotlout swore quietly.

* * *

Meanwhile, at about the same time as the two young men were arguing, the subject of their concern was groaning her way to consciousness. Her head hurt like she'd been on a week-long bender, she couldn't see a gods-damned thing 'cause something was covering half her face, and she couldn't seem to get her arms to work to push it out of the way. She managed to roll over onto her back, but that was extremely uncomfortable. For some reason her hands were trapped under her backside, and they were...tied?

Ruffnut screamed a number of obscenities as the surge of adrenaline she suddenly felt was not nearly enough to allow her to break the ropes binding her. Someone...someone was going to pay dearly for this once she got free! But how in Hel's name had they managed to tie her up in the first place? She was a trained warrior! Not some helpless, hapless milkmaid unaware of her surroundings! She shook her head. The last thing she remembered was seeing something glinting on the ground near one of the quieter coves. She'd headed over to check and see if someone had perhaps dropped a coin, and... She shook her head harder, hissing with pain as the motion set her head to pounding again. She couldn't remember anything after walking toward the shiny thing. Clearly that had been a trap and she had fallen into it like some kind of day-old dragon hatchling that didn't even have its eyes open yet. Oh Tuff was never going to let her live this one down.

But where was she? Not being able to see or feel around her certainly didn't help her figure that out, so she concentrated on her other senses instead. Breathing deeply she caught a distinctive salt tang in the air, so wherever she was she must be near the sea. Then there were the creaking groans, and (if it wasn't just her aching head) there did seem to be a soft, slow sway... She was on a ship!

She whipped around as she heard footsteps approaching, preparing to defend herself as best she could with her hands and feet bound.

"Oh look," a nasal male voice jeered, "our little sacrificial lamb's woken up." She felt and smelled rotten breath passing over her cheek as he leaned in to whisper in her ear, "Are you going to be a good little girl?"

"Fuck no!" she growled and blindly headbutted him, hoping she managed to catch him in the nose although any kind of hit would be good at this point.

"Damnit you little bitch!" she heard him yelp, and she grinned through the pain of her increased headache momentarily. Until something hit her on the back of the head and she surrendered once again to the deeper darkness of unconsciousness.

* * *

**Well, I must admit I didn't have any intention of getting sucked into writing for this fandom... *sighs* I should've known better. Given Loki's influence on my life, I don't get to ignore good Viking characters to play with LOL**

**I make no guarantees of how often this will be updated, I have other fanfic that takes precedence and I'm really not entirely sure where this one is going yet, but it wormed its way into my brain and would not be denied so here it is! Hope you enjoyed!  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, I certainly wasn't expecting to have more of this so soon... Please excuse the language. Just keep in mind, they _are_ vikings, after all.**

**Also, for dragon names I've gone with all of them having two names. I see the dragons as sentient, and thus assume they had other names before their riders gave them their current ones.**

**Anyway, enjoy!  
**

* * *

Abduction Chapter 2

The next time she woke, Ruffnut laid very still and quiet. She didn't want to let on to her captors that she was up just yet. After all, last time it had taken a little while from the time she woke up until that nasty perv came in to bug her. This time she wanted the opportunity to test her bonds before she got interrupted.

Her head still ached, and she swore silently to herself as she tried to sit up without making too much noise. Lying on the bare wooden floor for...however long she'd been passed out hadn't done very nice things to her, however. She was incredibly stiff, and trying to lever herself up into a sitting position without being able to properly use her arms was...well, pretty fucking difficult really. She finally ended up inching toward a wall and using it to prop herself up. Good. Now to work on these knots... At least her captors had been stupid enough to tie her up with her palms together. If not for that little mistake she really would have been shit outa luck. As it was all she managed to do was loosen the knot between her wrists just enough so that it wasn't biting into her flesh anymore. The rush of blood flowing back into her fingers was excruciatingly painful, and she bit her lip hard to stifle a scream. Vikings didn't scream. Well, not in pain, anyway. Vikings only screamed in rage. Which she could very easily be tempted to do right now. This whole situation was just stupid!

While she was trying to forget how much her hands hurt, she distracted herself with trying to figure out what the fuck was going on here exactly. She knew those other two girls had gone missing, but neither of them were warrior trained, and although the tribe had sent out search parties, the general consensus had been that they must have been taken by some nearby tribe to be brides. It wasn't unheard-of. Ruff knew of at least three women a few years older than her who had come to Berk as captured brides, but two in as many months was...unusual. And then there was what that nasty tooth-rot bastard had said. He'd called her a "sacrificial lamb" and that didn't suggest kidnap for marriage at all. Unless the "husband" was really truly nasty...

She shuddered very slightly, trying not to react to the mental image that brought up. Either way, she had no intention of just sitting here and being somebody's fucking sacrifice! She was a blooded viking, by Thor! She'd throw herself onto one of her captors' weapons for the glory of Valhalla before she'd submit meekly to anything!

* * *

Snotlout had run through all the curses he knew and was presently inventing new ones as he resisted the urge to kick his dragon. Pyre was refusing to move, even though he _knew_ she could tell how desperate he was to get started on searching for Ruff, and now she'd lit herself rather than let him get close enough to get on her saddle.

"Gods send you to frozen Niflheim you brainless coal, would you put yourself out so we can get going?" he raged. "Tuff's probably already in the air, we need to coordinate!"

Pyre glared at him, pacing around him in a large, deliberate circle. He didn't realize what she was doing until he was surrounded by a ring of fire that was too thick and high to try to run through. Besides which point, nobody in their right mind would try to run through Nightmare fire, it was too sticky. You'd be just as likely to get some stuck on yourself and then you were done for.

"Damnit you stupid lizard!" Lout snarled, "what is your problem?" Given little alternative, he sat down in the middle of the circle of fire and...well, he called it "glaring sternly" but it was really closer to a pout.

Pyre settled herself down just outside the flames and ducked her head through, whuffling his hair gently in apology, but she made no move to put the ring of flames out or move any other part of herself close enough for him to mount. She sniffed him thoroughly, made a disapproving grunt, then pulled her head back, leaving him alone inside the fire again.

* * *

Pyre (well, actually her name was Syndra among her kind, but she'd been unable to convey that to her charge) was concerned. Her understanding of Human was spotty at best, but it hadn't been hard to understand from words, body language and the reek of worry that something had upset her charge greatly, and that it had something to do with the female. The female had not come by that day, and Syndra had expected and missed her morning visit. She wanted to help him, she really did, his being so worked up was bothering her no end, but if she let him try to fly in his current state his breath alone might light him on fire. She knew how combustible the human pleasuregrass-liquid was. Besides that, even if the female's littermate joined them, that would only be two, and two were at least two too few for an effective quadrant search. They were going to need more help, and she knew just who to ask, now that she had managed to contain her charge and keep him from doing himself an injury.

Placing her head and neck against the ground, she let out a subsonic alarm rumble, calling on Sigel. They might have had their arguments in the beginning, Sigel and she, but she had quickly gotten over that once they'd talked things out, and given that their charges were relations, it was only right that she call upon him first. Not only that, but he would be sure to wake his charge and bring him along, and his charge might be able to better explain what was wrong with hers. He was, after all, _almost_ able to converse properly with dragons.

* * *

Hiccup, bent over an adaptation of the quickrelease he'd been designing for Gronkle saddles, frowned as he felt something tingle strangely in his left leg. It felt almost like a small earth tremor but...only in the prosthetic? That didn't seem right at all. He rubbed his eyes, suddenly realizing how very late it was. Maybe he should set this aside and get some sleep. His eyes were getting bleary and that wasn't very conducive to fine detail work like this. He was trying to get out from under the stack of projects he'd been working on so that he wouldn't feel guilty for taking a whole month off.

He smiled softly to himself. It had taken a fair amount of talking himself up to it, but he was finally looking forward to a wedding that, four years earlier, he never would have believed possible even if he _was_ the chief's son. Correction. He was looking forward to the honeymoon. The wedding itself was sure to be a pain. He still didn't particularly like being the center of attention and having people staring at him. It was worth all the hassle for the end result, though...

His brief daydream was interrupted by his best friend. All of a sudden, for no apparrent reason, Toothless sat up from where he was curled up by the forge, ears alert and eyes narrowed. The Night Fury paced over to Hiccup, nudging him firmly.

"What's up, bud?" Hiccup asked, reaching out to give him a soothing scratch behind his ear.

Toothless made the rumbling grunt that he'd come to learn meant "follow, and hurry", nudging him again hard enough to almost make him fall out of the chair.

"Okay, okay, I get it, I'm coming," Hiccup said, blowing out his candle lantern, levering himself to his feet and stretching the kinks out of his spine as he headed for the door, letting Toothless out first and closing it again behind him.

Once they were outside, Toothless picked up speed, going as fast as he knew Hiccup was capable of keeping up with. Hiccup got the impression that if he didn't keep up, Toothless might just throw him over his back and carry him he was in that much of a hurry. Luckily they didn't have far to go. The flickering of flames behind Snotlout's house was an easy beacon for anyone who happened to be up at such a ridiculous hour of the night.

Eschewing the front door, Hiccup headed right for Pyre's stableyard, and when he got there... Well, it took him a few seconds to really take it all in. While he was staring at the scene of controlled chaos, Toothless and Pyre were having what basically equated to a conversation.

"Hey! Hiccup! Man, would you tell my Gods-forsaken dragon to let me out of here?" Snotlout called from his "safe area" inside the flames.

"I dunno," Hiccup shook his head, coming closer to the flames so they didn't have to yell, but not going _too_ close. "She must have had a good reason for doing this. What were you doing when she..."

"Damnit, you gotta make her understand, we have to _fly_!" 'Lout insisted, with a tone in his voice that Hiccup had never heard from his perennially confident cousin.

"Seriously 'Lout, what's up?" he asked, wondering what could have him so upset.

"Ruff's gone missing," 'Lout muttered, quiet enough that Hiccup wasn't quite sure he'd heard correctly over the crackle of the flames.

"What?" he blinked.

"Ruff...she... Nobody's seen her since _yesterday_! Tuff's probably already flying and this damned mother-hen won't let me join him!" Lout gestured in the direction of his dragon, who seemed to have finished her conversation with Toothless. "Would you tell her I already got a mother, I don't need another one, I need a..." He sighed, looking suddenly deflated, "I need a partner."

Hiccup turned to the dragons, raising an eyebrow, and gestured with his head toward the ring of flames. "If I promise to talk to him and sort this all out, will you let him out?" he asked Pyre.

She turned her massive head toward the flames, then extended her neck and head inside them again, whuffling comfortingly at Snotlout. She stamped out a path wide enough for him to leave, and gently picked him up by the collar over his loud protests, carrying him like a dragonlet who'd misbehaved and setting him down in front of Hiccup, then she laid her entire body around them, blocking them in against the remainder of the flames.

"She clearly doesn't trust you not to do something stupid," Hiccup chuckled. He got on whiff of 'Lout's breath and waved his nose in front of his face. "Wheew! And neither do I, frankly. You're practically combustible yourself, at the moment! How much did you drink?"

"What's it matter," 'Lout objected, "I'm not makin' it up about Ruff, Tuff was just here freakin' out, ready to rip my head off cause he thought _I'd_... Well I don't even know what he thought but he was practically berserk."

"Okay," Hiccup nodded. "And for the record I don't think you're making it up, and I'm just as worried as...well okay _almost_ as worried as you, but you need to think about this rationally."

"Fuck rational," Snotlout jumped to his feet and started pacing, "And I don't see where you get off thinkin' you're even close to as worried as me, I mean, it's not like it's Astrid that's gone missing."

"No, it isn't Astrid," Hiccup frowned, "but Ruffnut's a friend. Crazy, but a friend, and I don't let friends get hurt; you should know that about me by now. I had no idea you two had gotten so...um...close," he admitted, flushing slightly. He should have been more observant, but interpersonal relationships really weren't his thing, and besides, he tended to be rather...well...busy with other things, especially lately. "When did that happen?"

"Like a year ago," Snotlout scoffed, "although I gotta admit we _have_ been keeping it kinda quiet. Ruff ain't no girly girl, so girl stuff still kinda makes her edgy. Last thing she needs is everyone goin' all goey over her an' me havin' a thing..." He slowed his pacing and smiled slightly. "I'm workin' on it though. An' when she _does_ let her guard down an' get girly..." He sighed. Then he started pacing again. "But Tuff says she didn't even have any weapons on her other'n her knife, an' even Ruff can get taken by surprise."

"You're right. Anyone can be taken by surprise," Hiccup nodded, "but right now it's after four in the morning, you're drunk, and you aren't thinking things through properly. Even if Pyre _would_ let you on, where are you going to look first?"

"Um..." Snotlout hesitated.

"Exactly," Hiccup nodded. "You don't know, and I don't know either. Where's Tuffnut?"

"He went to get Pillage and Sack," 'Lout said, "I'm sure he's out there looking already."

"Well he needs to come in," Hiccup shook his head, "Zipplebacks aren't known for their exemplary hunting and tracking skills, even _if_ Pillage and Sack are probably our best bet of finding her, they're going to need daylight to do it." He frowned as he thought for a moment. "Toothless and I will go find him and try to get him calmed down enough that he'll wait for morning, and in the morning the five of us will head out after her. The First Riders can do anything, including rescuing one of our own. I promise."

Snotlout sighed deeply. "Well how the fuck am I supposed to sleep when Ruff could be...could be hurt or even..." He shook his head, "This is a lousy fuckin' joke, whoever up there's in charge of this!"

He shook his fist at the heavens, but Hiccup could see the glaze of exhaustion creeping across his face. Clearly the adrenaline that had been fueling him up until now was fading. Just as well, really. Hiccup had been ready to restrain his cousin if he had to, but he hadn't been enjoying the possibility. Even with the lean muscle built up from years working in the forge, 'Lout still out-bulked him and probably always would.

"So do I have your word you won't do anything stupid before I come back with Astrid and the others in the morning?" Hiccup asked carefully.

"Yeah sure fine," Snotlout shook his head, glaring over at Pyre, "It's not like _she_ hasn't made it clear I'm grounded anyway. I'm not goin' inside to bed though. Won't be able to sleep either way so I may's well sit out here an' make plans. I gotta have a reaaaally good plan for what I'm gonna do to the bastards once we catch up to them," he leered.

Hiccup hid his amusement as he watched Pyre. She'd swiped the last of the flame enclosure away with her tail, and without Snotlout even being aware of it had extended a wing to corral him in against her side.

"What're you don' you nutcase?" Snotlout objected as she used gentle force to tuck him up under her wing and hold him in place there.

"She's worried about you; aren't you, girl," Hiccup gave her a soothing scratch on her cheek, "She's trying to tell you to rest and that she'll keep watch until morning."

"Whatever," Snotlout looked mightily put out, but he did give in, relaxing back against her soft, warm underbelly. "I'm still not sleeping, though."

"Alright," Hiccup nodded, knowing better than to press the issue, "I'll be back at dawn." He headed quickly back to his house to get his flying rig. Now to attempt to soothe the savage brother. His night was just getting better and better.

* * *

**Poor Hiccup; that boy never seems to catch a break, does he? XD Oh well, what else can one so obviously touched by the Gods expect?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Another fine chapter from me...I do hope I'm not boring everyone? Anyway here we go, things are starting to sort themselves out, and a journey has begun. How long it will be? Well, we'll just have to wait and see.**

* * *

Abduction Chapter 3

Hiccup sighed as he settled himself into the saddle. The only other time he could remember seeing Tuffnut in his "raging protective brother" mode had been when the others returned from their first outing guarding the trading ships last summer. Ruff had managed to break her arm (Hiccup still hadn't gotten the full story on that but given how upset Tuff got every time the subject was raised he hadn't bothered to try after the first three times) and Tuff was just _itching_ for something or some_one_ to take his rage out on. To the point that he'd headed straight for the old training ring and hacked apart four training dummies in quick succession. It had frankly surprised Hiccup given how the two usually acted around each other, but Astrid had just shook her head when he looked confused and explained that it was a sibling thing. Not having any siblings, Hiccup'd had to take her word on that. She'd said that no matter what happened between them day-to-day it was _always_ a brother's responsibility to take care of his sister and see that she came to no harm, even if she was a powerful warrior in her own right.

"You got any idea where Pillage and Sack are?" he asked Toothless rather than just taking off blindly.

Toothless chortled in affirmative and quickly took to the air, winging his way steadily toward the area of town where the twins still lived with their family.

Hiccup was in luck. Well, sortof. If you call any situation where you have to confront an almost insanely angry and protective twin brother "luck". But still, he was in luck. Like Pyre, Pillage and Sack had refused to take to the air, and appeared to be in the middle of a heated argument between the two heads. Tuff, meanwhile, appeared to be all raged out. Or so Hiccup hoped. He was sitting in the middle of the yard with his head in his hands, and from behind Hiccup couldn't see his expression but at least he wasn't pacing around like Snotlout had been. Or throwing things. Throwing things was _always_ a bad sign. Slowly and cautiously he slipped off Toothless' back and approached the often volatile male half of "the terrible two".

"They can't decide on a direction?" he asked as he settled down next to Tuffnut (but out of arm's reach, just in case).

"Sack won't fly without her," Tuff said, looking up at the dragon. "I tried to explain we've gotta fly anyway or we can't find her but Sack never listens to me..." He was almost scary calm, and it was giving Hiccup the chills.

"I already talked to 'Lout and he told me," Hiccup said carefully, "You should've said something, Tuff. You know we'll all help find her, but it's no good starting out now. How're we going to track her if we can't see?"

Tuff turned his glare on Hiccup, and the young blacksmith and dragon tamer couldn't quite suppress the shiver those icy eyes brought forth. "Every minute sitting here is another one wasted," he said, "I should'a looked for her _yesterday_. When she wasn't home by dark last night I should'a _known_ something was wrong!" His fists clenched, "Damnit Hiccup I'm s'posta _know_ when shit like this happens! I'm s'posta _keep _it from happening!"

Hiccup didn't quite know what to say to that, but he knew he had to keep Tuff calm. Or at least in this state of seeming-calm. Cold fury was better than hot rage. At least then Tuff's brain seemed to work...some. "As soon as it's light we'll head out," he said finally. "We'll find her, Tuff. Besides, you know she'd never actually let anyone do anything to her, she'd kill them with a hidden weapon or something first."

"That is true," Tuffnut grinned suddenly, "And nobody'd ever think to look there either, so she's probably still got'em."

"Um...you mean she _does_ have some kind of concealed weapon?" Hiccup blinked.

"You didn't really think her hair stuck out like that on the sides without help did you?" Tuff laughed.

"I...don't think I even want to know," Hiccup shuddered as his entirely-too-imaginative brain tried to picture what kind of weaponry could possibly give the support needed to shape those two small braids which sat below Ruff's helmet.

* * *

The next morning, shortly before dawn, anyone awake (fishermen, perhaps, getting an early start on the day) would have seen an odd sight, even for Berk these last few years. In the yard behind Snotlout's house, a group of dragons sat, chortling, grumbling and by all appearances having some kind of very involved conversation.

Which was, of course, precisely what was going on.

"_Alright, settle, all of you_," Sigel sighed. "_We don't have time to sort out precisely who should sit next to whom, this is an emergency council, remember?_"

Syndra peeked under her wing to make sure her charge was still sleeping heavily, then let her jaw gape threateningly. "_I would appreciate your attention to our leader_," she reminded them.

Cowed, Snorri the gronckle, Daga the nadder and Bani and Líf the zippleback all settled, laying their chins to the ground in submission.

"_Good,_" Sigel nodded, "_Now, from what my charge has made me to understand, the situation stands thus: The female who is under Bani's charge has gone missing in such a way that it makes the humans concerned._"

Immediately Bani reared back, eyes wide, and tried to haul his side of the body off the ground, but Líf pinned Bani's neck down with his own and hissed, reminding him they had to hear everything before running off to find the sweet one.

"_It is likely that as soon as first light arrives, all our charges will wish to set out in search of her. Bani, I trust you know her scent well enough that you will be able to find what traces remain after two days?_"

"_Of course,_" the gaseous side of the zippleback hissed, "_I will find her for us for certain!_"

"_Thank you,_" Sigel nodded politely to him, "_Now, we must consider the possibility that she has been taken by others of the humans; you all know humans are capable of such...taking. It may be necessary to follow them over water, so if any of you do not feel up to a journey you must speak up now, and be prepared that your charge may wish to ride with another in order to take part in this journey._" He looked specifically at Snorri, knowing that long journeys over water could be taxing for gronckles.

"_I am strong!_" Snorri objected, "_I would not wish my charge away from me during this worrisome time. I will fly with you._"

"_There is no way I will stay here when the sweet one is lost,_" Líf hissed, "_We are in agreement on this. The two of us will carry the strong one together. It is not right littermates should be separated this way._"

"_Of course I can fly!_" Daga trilled in amusement, "_You ought to know better than to even ask, Sigel. You just want to steal my girl, I know you._"

"_I have no desire to steal your charge,_" Sigel rolled his eyes. "_Syndra?_"

"_I fly,_" Syndra nodded, "_I must be there to look after my charge, after all. He is likely to react strongly against those who would harm his intended mate. I will keep him from doing anything too foolish._"

"_Good,_" Sigel stood, shaking his wings out, and nodded to the others. "_I will see you all again shortly then, when our charges have woken and prepared themselves._"

* * *

She hadn't meant to fall asleep. She'd intended not to, quite frankly, she didn't want to give anyone a chance to touch her when she was unaware, but at the same time, it was dark with her eyes covered, and there was no way to even tell if it was day or night, and she _hurt_. Honestly she wasn't sure if she'd actually fallen asleep or if she'd passed out again from the pain in her head. Not that Vikings were supposed to be susceptible to that kind of thing, but she'd had a concussion before, she knew what they felt like, and if she was being honest with herself she had to admit she definitely had one at the moment, or was recovering from one.

She woke to the sound of footsteps in the cell again and kicked her legs out wildly in the direction her ears told her the person was coming from. She hadn't waited long enough though, she didn't connect with anything. She froze and waited for the next punishing blow, but it didn't come.

"You needn't worry," a soft female voice said, "I'm no threat. They want me to feed you." The sound of the steps stopped and Ruff heard something being set down.

"What, they figure just cause you're a girl I won't try an' kill you to get outa here?" Ruff scoffed.

"It would do you little good," the girl sighed, "I am only a slave, and I have not the keys to your cage. They will let me free your eyes and one leg, however, so that you may...follow the course of nature."

"Great," Ruffnut suppressed the urge to sigh. She wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth though, and she'd really rather not have to lie in her own filth, quite frankly. "Alright, I won't attack you. Just so we're clear though, I'm not happy about being here."

"I would not expect you to be," the girl admitted, "I would not be, in your place."

Ruff felt gentle hands unknotting the cloth that had been tied around her head, and she groaned quietly as light filtered in. After who knows how much time in enforced darkness, even the small lantern the girl had brought with her was almost too much. It made her eyes sting and her head pulse with pain. She squinted and looked around, trying to get a better idea where she was. She appeared to be in the hold of a longboat (not a surprise really) and there were bars on three sides of her, the hull of the ship making up the fourth wall. There was a long, thick rope tied to her left ankle which was spliced around a ring sunk into the floor near the back of the cell, and she could tell even without trying that it wasn't long enough to let her get to the door.

"How long?" Ruff asked quietly as the girl went to work untying the bonds holding her legs together.

"Our journey will take at least two weeks," the girl answered.

"No, I mean, since I...since I've been in here?" Ruff shook her head.

"Ah. I believe we must have taken you aboard at our last landfall, since I was not called to tend to you before that, so about two days."

"Two days...Tuff's gotta have noticed by now," Ruff muttered under her breath, relaxing slightly. "Not that I'm gonna let them bail me out... No, no I gotta have a plan..."

"As you wish," the girl said, nervousness clear in her voice. "Would you prefer I feed you first or that we...deal with the other issue?"

"Food," Ruffnut shuddered. "Otherwise even with my empty belly I don't think I'll be able to get anything down. Not after..." She stopped herself.

"You are a smart woman," the girl said with a small, hesitant smile, and went to bring the tray of food closer. "I am sorry this isn't more appetizing fare but they only need you alive, they don't, I think, either need or _want_ you particularly healthy."

"No surprise there," Ruff rolled her eyes. She found herself examining the slave, confused by the girl's proper, educated-sounding speech. She had long coppery-red hair, the top of which was pulled back from her face with braids which met at the back of her head and the rest of which fell loosely to her waist. She didn't look Norse or Saxon...if anything, Ruff thought, her features were more Celtic. Which shouldn't have surprised her as much as it did.

"Here," the slave girl said gently as she held a cup to Ruff's mouth, "drink this. Slowly, you don't want to make yourself sick."

Ruffnut took tiny sips of the water, hiding her grimace. It was very obviously stale, as though it had sat in barrels for quite some time, but at least it helped her mouth not feel quite so dry. The water was followed by spoonfuls of mealy pottage which seemed to have an almost metallic flavour to it. Nevertheless she managed to keep it all down, if only barely, and that was good. If she was going to figure a way out of this situation she was going to need all the strength she could manage.

With her belly satiated, she started to feel a little drowsy. She didn't want to sleep again, but she was beginning to suspect she wouldn't have a choice.

"Time for the other duty now," the slave girl smiled apologetically at her, and Ruff blinked as she suddenly noticed the girl's eyes. They were a strange, unique colour somewhere between blue and green, and looked almost like they were made of a special gemstone her mother had in one of her necklaces.

"Right, yeah," Ruff nodded, "I guess so. This really sucks," she giggled slightly, "but I'll try an' not think about it."

"That is probably best," the girl agreed, quickly preparing Ruff's chamber pot.

Ruff closed her eyes and thought about other things.

* * *

As soon as everyone had gathered at the Thorstons' house, both heads of the zippleback lowered to the ground, following Ruffnut's scent. It was old, certainly, but they were easily able to pick up the most recent trail.

Snotlout, clearly still suffering the aftereffects of his drinking the night before, groaned softly and rubbed his eyes as he followed the dragons, first to his own house (he could've told them to start there damnit! He knew she'd been there!) and then off in another direction completely, heading toward the back of the island. Finally, some kind of progress! He wasn't sure quite _why_ she would have headed over here, but then again, he knew Ruff liked her privacy now and then, and this side of the island did tend to be empty except for sheep most of the time.

As they came close to the route down to one of the small coves, he saw something which made him go cold. Half-hidden behind a rock he caught sight of a curved horn. He...didn't want it to be what he thought it was, but as he ran toward it he knew. It was her helmet, tossed aside, and discarded, as she NEVER would have done. He knelt down and gently picked the helmet up, and then he felt his heart stop. There was blood on it, and a small dent, as though someone had hit her in the head.

"I'll kill them," he growled. "I'll bash in the heads of every single person who hurt her with my BARE HANDS!"

"No, you won't," Tuffnut snatched the helmet out of his hands, "It's not your right, it's mine."

"Both of you shut up," Astrid elbowed her way in between the two young men. "First we have to find her, then you can argue over who gets to do more of the revenging."

"Right, sorry Astrid," the two said together. They'd long since learned not to aggravate her, especially since she'd been known to encourage her Nadder to throw spines at people who pissed her off.

Just then Toothless made a keening call from the beach.

"I think he's found something," Hiccup said, "come on, let's go."

Fishlegs was the first down to the beach, and when he saw what the dragons had found, he jumped back so as not to mess up the scene even worse than it already was. There were footsteps everywhere, the remains of a campfire in a back corner of the beach, and a very obvious track from a longboat.

"Well that prettymuch confirms it," he said, "she's definitely been taken by somebody."

"Yeah thanks so much for your keen observational skills," Tuff glared at him, "I think we could've figured that out."

The argument was quickly interrupted as Pillage and Sack followed the track of the boat down to the water and slid in, keeping their heads high as they tracked the pooled scent of the ship.

"Um, zipplebacks swim?" Astrid looked at Hiccup.

"Apparently," Hiccup shrugged, "I've never seen it happen before but that doesn't mean anything necessarily."

The zippleback reached the area of water outside the protection of the cove, turned toward the west, screamed out in challenge and then turned to return to the shore, hauling himself out onto the beach and shaking like a dog before spreading his wings out to dry.

"Well," Hiccup said, "It looks like we're flying west."

* * *

**Whee! Plot is starting to appear! And yes, there is a reason Ruff's acting a little weird at the end there, but you'll have to wait to find out what it is.**


End file.
